SEYMOUR trainer Barry Goodwin saved the best to almost last at Thursday’s races with his four-year-old gelding Wallace Street splitting a blanket finish to steal the $25,000 Seymour Toyota Handicap over 1100m.

The caller could not separate them on the line but the local horse bobbed at the right moment to finish a whisker ahead of Triple Shot and Pretty Bella.

It was a brave all-the-way bid by Pretty Bella but it finished second.

Reece Goodwin, representing his father, said Wallace Street was a horse that had, at times, tested the patience of the team at the stables.

He said the win was a “huge satisfaction, not only for us but for the owners as well”.

“It had been a bit of a gamble buying this horse, we paid a bit of money for him and he was a bit disappointing last time, which is why this win is so good,” Goodwin said.

He started as favourite at his first start in Victoria after being bought and moved to Seymour from South Australia.

But in his third start since a nine week spell he finally delivered the goods following a third and that disappointing seventh at Kyneton on November 29.

Wallace Street is highly strung and can put on a performance in the mounting yard and on the way to the barrier.

A son of boom sire Written Tycoon the horse has an outstanding pedigree but will still be expected to do more.

“That was a thing in his first and second start for us, we were still learning about him as we didn’t know all that much about his behaviour,” Goodwin added.

“We’ve learnt something from every start and we have just tried a few different things with him and we are confident he will keep improving,” he said.

“He behaves really well at home so we have tried a few tricks with him here today and it seems to have worked a lot better.

“We will see how he pulls up today – early on we were looking to move him up to 1400m but that didn’t seem to work too well so we brought him back to the 1100m and that seems to have worked.

“If he stays in good nick we might stretch the prep into the summer and target a few sprint like this.

“He has a huge action on him and I am still convinced we will get him out to 1400m, have him bowling along in front.”

Jockey Jake Noon, who rode a patient race, leaving it to the shadow of the post to surge through a gap to win, said the Goodwins had done “a tremendous job” with him.

Noonan rode the horse in his first Victorian start and now his first Victorian win.

“Winning today will be a real asset for this fella, and knowing him myself, knowing he is a bit quirky but has such a massive stride on him I was feeling confident.

“He needs to be balanced before we get to the top of him – he got a bit worked up before my first ride on him and that was reflected in his finish.

“But we didn’t have any of that today and he saved a lot of energy, which also showed where it counts – winning.”

Noonan said even though Triple Shot was hanging in down the straight he always thought he was within reach.

“With that huge stride you can’t go from zero to 100 in any record speed and because of his stride that’s why we lost contact with the lead bunch while he built up his speed and I knew he was going to be strong late.”

The other big winner of the day was jockey Ben Melham who greeted the judge twice – first in the $26,000 Parker Brothers Earthmoving Plate over 2034m and then in the eighth and last on the card the $25,000 Mitchelton Wines over 1442m.